“Much has transpired in the last two days. We set out to meet an old hermit (on the advice of the horse master).

The hermit was helpful without asking for anything in return, and pointed us to Gulthandor, on the road to Starmantle.

We encountered more elven scouts in the woods, but we were expecting them this time. It was not a long battle, but a short, bloody skirmish the elves had no chance of winning.

After dealing with the scouts we stealthily traveled on, in search of their base of operations. We found what we were looking for in a very thick part of the wood.

They did not expect us, and we ambushed the camp from afar. The elf had two foes down before the rest knew what was happening. The paladin and I charged in and fell the rest of them in a matter of seconds.

We snuck into the only structure we found there to find three more elves who were oblivious to the battle which had just taken place outside. We made quick work of them as well, and here is where we have found our latest clue: A folded piece of paper with what appears to be a schedule of some sort, a list of times for the 2nd, 4th, and 10th day.

The paper also bears the mark of a slim dagger pointing downwards, with a blazing red-orange flame around it. We will need to investigate further.”

“Reddansyr is smaller than I expected. Smaller, but also busier… it seems there must be a wealth of jobs available in a place like this.

There are lots of adventurers here. I wonder how many of them have done extraordinary things… No matter. What is important is that we have another job right in front of us.

Andrew’s wife, Sariah, has requested that we find who is behind the death of her husband and have them brought to “justice.” She has offered us 200 gold pieces (and enough of it up front to purchase horses).

We must speak with the stable master before we head out, for Sariah and Haleth believe him to have some information about the highway bandits.”

“Half a day’s travel from Westgate we came upon the first hitch in the road: an abandoned and apparently looted merchant wagon pulled to one side of the road.

After Grey called my attention to the arrow shafts protruding from the rear of the wagon, it was clear that this was not an accident of any sort.

Upon closer inspection we discovered that although there was plenty of blood, there were no bodies left at the scene… the only clue we found was a red hat with a bright, purple feather in it.

This did not fare well with Haleth, who claimed the hat belonged to a good friend of his, a tailor in Reddansyr by the name of Andrew.

After some careful tracking by the elf, we located two freshly covered graves. Andrew was indeed dead…

It was decided that we would deliver the news to his wife, Sariah, as soon as we arrived in Reddansyr. We had had a long day, so we set up camp for the night – which is the first time our skills in battle were tested outside the sandpit arena of Westgate.

During the night we were set upon by a wild pack of wolves. We made such quick work of them one could have slept through the entire encounter and not been awakened.

The very next day, we met the highway “bandits” face to face… It happened extremely fast. The first thing I remember was seeing an arrow whisk past the paladin’s left ear.

Haleth took cover behind the wagon, while Grey, Ragna, and myself drew steel and bow and went out to face our attackers.

No matter what anyone tells me, I will never again underestimate the skill of an elven archer. There was not one elven archer attacking us that day, but four, hidden amongst the trees and brush on each side of the path.

We battled for what seemed like a day in itself, and only through the paladin’s healing powers were we able to survive and defeat our enemies. Tomorrow we should reach Reddansyr. I only hope Haleth plans to give us more work… 25 gold will not last this Eladrin long at all.”

“We fought many battles in Westgate’s arena, but that day we fought our last. We (myself, Ragna, dragonborn paladin of Torm, and Grey, elven ranger, that is) were released, given some gold to get started with, and sent on our way.

I thought we would be hard pressed to find work, anything that could keep us from starving to death. The skills we honed over the years of fighting in that enormous sand pit may be what brings us glory in the end, however. For not a single hour passed since our new found freedom had been bestowed on us when we were first approached by a prospective employer… Edmond Silva, to be exact.

He made himself easy to like from the beginning, paying for the “celebration we deserved” in his favorite tavern, “The Hairy Bear.” When we woke the next morning, however, it wasn’t Edmond who came to us for work. It was his close friend Haleth Harpo, a man of some wealth who owned a blacksmithing operation in Reddansyr.

Haleth’s request was a simple one: escort a shipment of blacksmithing supplies back to his business in Reddansyr. Something about bandits attacking merchant wagons on the roads between the port towns and the trade towns.

He agreed to pay us 25 gold pieces (each, I might add) per day for the two-day trip, so you can imagine how quickly I agreed. The way I see it, I had no choice. Perhaps finding work wouldn’t be so hard after all…”